Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Branson Cockeris an English musician, singer-songwriter, actor, voice actor, radio presenter and music video director. He is known for being the frontman of the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus, Cocker has led a successful solo career, and presents a BBC Radio 6 Music show called Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPop Singer
Date of Birth19 September 1963
character reason bits
I'm a sluggish character; I'm a bit slow. For some reason I find it hard to work quickly.
particular
Will you see Pulp again? Who knows. I'm not stoking those particular rumours.
far life
My route so far through life hasn't been particularly logical, or even thought out.
across mad nature quiet sort
I've always had an eye for nature, but it's the sort of thing to keep quiet about, because I don't want to come across as a mad hippy. But it makes sense to appreciate those things.
dog fairly function good great lyrics rescue song words work
Words are important to me, but a song can work and function and be a good song with words that are fairly standard. But really great lyrics can't rescue a dog of a song.
actively exist great indie people prove seemed stuff tv war
When I was in Pulp, I actively did more TV stuff because that was during the Great Britpop Wars, and it seemed important to prove that indie people could speak. That war doesn't exist anymore.
kindness
Because if you give everything away then you become a kind of non-person.
full intimate pay sit surrender time tv whereas
The thing about radio is that it's got an intimate feel. What I like is that you don't have to give it your full attention - you can still do something else that the same time, whereas TV is all-enveloping: you have to sit there and pay attention to it, and give yourself over to it. You have to surrender to it, but you don't with radio.
drift far gradually time
You write a song about how you think at the time, and then gradually you drift away from that, and when it's far enough in the past, that's when you think, 'Now I have to write something new.'
Oh you know, I've been writing a novel.
champion john music peel seek spirit tonight
Part of what tonight is about is to keep the spirit of John Peel alive. To seek out new music and champion new talent.
benefit keen ok quite
I'm not very keen on ageing. I'm not keen on the physical decay. I probably am quite vain. I think you want to try and look OK for the benefit of other people.
ideas listening consumption
Human beings aren't meant to be solely consumers - eventually, something has to come out. Otherwise, I don't really see what the point of all that consumption is. The idea behind watching things and listening to things is that it stirs something within you, and hopefully that will stimulate you to then create your own thing.
differences detours stuff
It's funny how you can intensely investigate one very particular thing, and then it can lead you to other things through links and stuff like that. It's like you're going on this selective, very precise detour. But then it is strange because with it being so quick, there must be a difference.